One hundred patients, including five children, are waiting for organ transplants in Montenegro, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
There are 64 adults and three children waiting for a kidney transplant, while 13 adults and one minor are on the waiting list for a liver transplant. Six people, including one child, are waiting for a heart transplant. There are 13 people over the age of 18 on the waiting list for a lung transplant.
At the end of last year, 108 people were waiting for an organ transplant, and last month, a kidney transplant was performed in Montenegro at the Clinical Center of Montenegro (KCCG), after a six-year hiatus.
The transplant was performed from a living donor, while three cadaveric kidney transplants from brain-dead individuals have been performed in Montenegro so far, the last in 2019.
Kidney transplants at the KCCG, after a break since 2019, were initiated in cooperation with an expert team from the Belgrade Military Medical Academy and KCCG staff. This contract, in addition to the implementation of transplantation procedures, also provides for the education of Montenegrin staff, so that they can be trained to independently implement this program as soon as possible.
In February, bone marrow stem cell transplantation was performed for the first time in Montenegro, which is used in the treatment of severe hematological oncological diseases and for which patients were referred abroad for this type of treatment.
Organ transplantation from a brain-dead person has been on hold for years, despite the state signing an organ exchange agreement (so-called allocation agreement) with Eurotransplant in 2018.
Eurotransplant is a non-profit organization for organ exchange between its member states, which are Germany, Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Croatia, Slovenia, and Belgium.
Organ donation after death in Montenegro would allow patients on the waiting list to receive an organ transplant from Eurotransplant, on the principle of reciprocity.
The Ministry of Health recently explained to "Vijesti" the procedure for citizens who want to obtain a donor card.
Any person who wishes to be a donor can contact their chosen doctor and sign a written consent for organ donation in the event of death, after which they will be issued a donor card. This, they explained, can be revoked at any time by submitting a Statement of Revocation of Written Consent for Organ Removal in the Event of Death, after which the donor card is returned and a note is made accordingly.
In the event that a person wishes to declare that he does not expressly wish to be a donor, he is issued a Statement of Objection to Organ Donation, which he can also revoke - by submitting a Statement of Revocation of the Statement of Objection to Organ Donation.
"Given that the new system has just come into effect, and taking into account the planned media campaign to raise citizens' awareness of the significance and importance of organ donation, we are certain that after its implementation there will be greater interest and an increase in the number of citizens interested in obtaining a donor card," the head of the Transplantation Directorate of the Directorate for Public Health and Biomedicine of the Ministry of Health told "Vijesti" at the end of last year. Sandra Damjanovic.
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